Cheyenne Labrador didn’t have an opportunity to practise Indigenous culture when she was growing up, but now she is giving others the chance to do that.

Labrador, a Mi’kmaw from the Acadia First Nation, lives away from her community, like many urban Indigenous people. So, when the Facebook group Natives in Halifax requested a community get-together, Labrador, executive assistant at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, worked with her colleagues to make it happen.

The first cultural night, held on Thursday, seemed like a family reunion with about 30 people attending. Children played together before gathering around a drum at the front of the room. In one corner people talked to each other, while in the kitchen a group of women cleaned and socialized.